Is what I will be running in Houston come January 17. I had said all along that this past 
weekend's run would be the determining factor in whether I stuck with the full for Houston or switched to the half, as the deadline to change is this Thursday. I said before this weekend that I imagined I would end up sticking with the full. I had to miss out on it last year because I was sick, and that was tough because had I not gotten sick after running St. George in October 2008, I could have built on that training and had the possibility of a really great run in Houston. But my health had other ideas. This time around I was fired up because I ran well at IMFL and had some really good training runs leading up to IMFL as well.
I know though that my body may have different intentions/desires than my head. I know I did not run more than 10 miles the entire month after IMCDA this summer, and that even then some of those runs were a bit tough. When I sat down after IMFL to plan out what I would have to do to run the Houston full, I was a bit shocked to realize how much time I did not have. I scheduled out 16 miles for last weekend, 18 miles next weekend, and 21 miles the day after Christmas, leaving a three week taper. Parts of that did not sound fun at all, but other parts sounded good, and the thought of being able to run the full for the 5th time in Houston after doing the half last year was exciting...
Until two days ago. My legs did all the talking on Saturday and made the decision for me. I did not even have to look to my head and my heart to know what the right thing to do is. I will be running the half, without doubt, and even that might not be anything spectacular. It stinks that I know many of my friends who did IMFL seem to be recovering just fine and will go on to run the full in Houston with no problems. They are back to some sort of a long run schedule and their legs are doing what is asked of them. Not mine. I know though that this is the right decision. I could probably finish the full, but every long run between now and then would absolutely beat me up and just be worse than the week before. I would not have fun with either the training or the actual race, and fun is the #1 reason I do any of this. The #1 indicator that my legs are not recovered from IMFL (and probably the past entire year) is that my quads feel like they have gone through the meat grinder way earlier than usual lately. The 11 and 12 mile long runs I have done hurt, and that is a distance I can usually do without blinking. During the race on Saturday, my quads again began to hurt very prematurely. They felt around 10 miles in like they would at the very end of a 20+ mile run or a full marathon/ironman race. Not before that. As I sit here two days later, after running 14.5 miles total on Saturday, I can barely get up from my chair or sit down in it without shrieking in pain. I am as sore as I have been after full marathons, and far more sore than I was after any long training run this year. So yes, my legs are doing all the talking.
I do miss "being a runner" as it seems that I have been more of a triathlete over the past year. I wish I could be both, but I am learning the lesson that so many of us learn over and over again: I cannot do it all, especially at the same time. On the other hand, I would not give up the last year that I have had as a triathlete for any marathon, no matter how great it could be, so I am content with the way things are working out. IMFL was my third fastest marathon ever, out of 12. I did something way right last year and running a full marathon next month would not help continue that "way right" streak. Maybe next Fall I can do the "runner thing" again for a few months and really focus on running and have a solid marathon then. Not until then though.
As sad as I am that I am having to "miss out" on another Houston full marathon, I am equally excited as a burden seems to have been lifted off my shoulders. My schedule seems much more manageable now and I am not going to have to bust my butt to get home on Christmas night so I can wake up and run 21 miles the next day. I am not going to have to run 18 miles at the crack of dawn next Saturday. Instead I can go play with Jon in a state park (and hope I don't die when I pretend to know how to ride a mountain bike), and on Sunday I can run the Jingle Bell Run (5 mile race) with a few extra miles and call it my long run for the weekend. I can enjoy the four Christmas parties I have next Fri-Mon without worrying on Friday about going to bed early, and worrying for the rest of the weekend if the place I'm going has stairs that I have to struggle up and down (I went to a baby shower on Saturday after my race and grunted/squealed/huffed and puffed up and down the whopping one flight of stairs because my legs hurt so bad).
So, all is not lost, and I can also look at this as perhaps a good way to kick off 2010. I will hopefully arrive at the beginning of the 2010 tri season well-rested and maybe with a tiny bit of speed in my back pocket, as opposed to fatigued, hurt, and torn up from running a full marathon.
weekend's run would be the determining factor in whether I stuck with the full for Houston or switched to the half, as the deadline to change is this Thursday. I said before this weekend that I imagined I would end up sticking with the full. I had to miss out on it last year because I was sick, and that was tough because had I not gotten sick after running St. George in October 2008, I could have built on that training and had the possibility of a really great run in Houston. But my health had other ideas. This time around I was fired up because I ran well at IMFL and had some really good training runs leading up to IMFL as well.I know though that my body may have different intentions/desires than my head. I know I did not run more than 10 miles the entire month after IMCDA this summer, and that even then some of those runs were a bit tough. When I sat down after IMFL to plan out what I would have to do to run the Houston full, I was a bit shocked to realize how much time I did not have. I scheduled out 16 miles for last weekend, 18 miles next weekend, and 21 miles the day after Christmas, leaving a three week taper. Parts of that did not sound fun at all, but other parts sounded good, and the thought of being able to run the full for the 5th time in Houston after doing the half last year was exciting...
Until two days ago. My legs did all the talking on Saturday and made the decision for me. I did not even have to look to my head and my heart to know what the right thing to do is. I will be running the half, without doubt, and even that might not be anything spectacular. It stinks that I know many of my friends who did IMFL seem to be recovering just fine and will go on to run the full in Houston with no problems. They are back to some sort of a long run schedule and their legs are doing what is asked of them. Not mine. I know though that this is the right decision. I could probably finish the full, but every long run between now and then would absolutely beat me up and just be worse than the week before. I would not have fun with either the training or the actual race, and fun is the #1 reason I do any of this. The #1 indicator that my legs are not recovered from IMFL (and probably the past entire year) is that my quads feel like they have gone through the meat grinder way earlier than usual lately. The 11 and 12 mile long runs I have done hurt, and that is a distance I can usually do without blinking. During the race on Saturday, my quads again began to hurt very prematurely. They felt around 10 miles in like they would at the very end of a 20+ mile run or a full marathon/ironman race. Not before that. As I sit here two days later, after running 14.5 miles total on Saturday, I can barely get up from my chair or sit down in it without shrieking in pain. I am as sore as I have been after full marathons, and far more sore than I was after any long training run this year. So yes, my legs are doing all the talking.
I do miss "being a runner" as it seems that I have been more of a triathlete over the past year. I wish I could be both, but I am learning the lesson that so many of us learn over and over again: I cannot do it all, especially at the same time. On the other hand, I would not give up the last year that I have had as a triathlete for any marathon, no matter how great it could be, so I am content with the way things are working out. IMFL was my third fastest marathon ever, out of 12. I did something way right last year and running a full marathon next month would not help continue that "way right" streak. Maybe next Fall I can do the "runner thing" again for a few months and really focus on running and have a solid marathon then. Not until then though.
As sad as I am that I am having to "miss out" on another Houston full marathon, I am equally excited as a burden seems to have been lifted off my shoulders. My schedule seems much more manageable now and I am not going to have to bust my butt to get home on Christmas night so I can wake up and run 21 miles the next day. I am not going to have to run 18 miles at the crack of dawn next Saturday. Instead I can go play with Jon in a state park (and hope I don't die when I pretend to know how to ride a mountain bike), and on Sunday I can run the Jingle Bell Run (5 mile race) with a few extra miles and call it my long run for the weekend. I can enjoy the four Christmas parties I have next Fri-Mon without worrying on Friday about going to bed early, and worrying for the rest of the weekend if the place I'm going has stairs that I have to struggle up and down (I went to a baby shower on Saturday after my race and grunted/squealed/huffed and puffed up and down the whopping one flight of stairs because my legs hurt so bad).
So, all is not lost, and I can also look at this as perhaps a good way to kick off 2010. I will hopefully arrive at the beginning of the 2010 tri season well-rested and maybe with a tiny bit of speed in my back pocket, as opposed to fatigued, hurt, and torn up from running a full marathon.
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